The most requested thing for dinner around here? Noodles. With butter.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Peanut Butter Balls

In 3rd grade, I would walk to school. Down the street and around the corner to Acacia Elementary School in Fullerton, CA. The principal was Mr. Costa. I remember he had a very large mustache.

We ate lunch outside almost every day. The tables were actually stored outside- they folded down from the wall and then folded back up when everyone was done. You can do that sort of thing in southern California. Not so much in the Pacific Northwet.

Anyway, I was a picky eater in those days. Mom says I would only let her pack me peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. She was getting rather bored of making me those sandwiches, but I figured she didn't have to eat them, so what was the problem?

One day, she found a recipe for these things called Peanut Butter Balls. She made them, and I liked them, so she now had a break from the sandwiches- but not from the peanut butter!

I've been thinking about the Peanut Butter Balls lately. I asked mom for the recipe and she said she didn't have it anymore. Boo. I was tempted to pout, but then I thought of the internet and I went in search of a modern version of my 70's snack...

I found about a dozen different recipes- all with different ratios of ingredients. None of them had all the parts that made up my childhood version, so I launched out on my own and came up with this:

1 26 oz. jar of Adams Natural Peanut Butter- Creamy

2 c. honey (I got a great jar of honey from a friend for my b-day- this was the perfect use for it!)

2 c. powdered milk

1 c. flaxseed meal from Bob's Red Mill

5 c. Rice Krispies

The flaxseed meal is not from the original recipe, but it doesn't alter the taste, and it adds really healthy stuff so I put it in.

Mix the first four ingredients well and then put in the Rice Krispies last. I mix those in by hand so they don't get too crushed. Some people use crumbled Raisin Bran or Corn Flakes instead of Rice Krispies, but I find that the Rice Krispies have the right structure to support all the other ingredients and still stay light and crispy.

Refrigerate the mix for a few hours and then form it into balls the size of golf balls.

I think my hand looks weird in that shot- like a claw. I need something more natural...No, that's not what I want.Hmmm...Whatever. You get the idea.

The recipe makes about 5 dozen balls. Store in the fridge.

They don't look great, but they really really taste great. They are the perfect combination of the sweet/salty taste bud dance and crunchy/melt-in-your-mouth texture.